It was an average day for Jack one that he would have called horrible just over a year ago but these days it was just one of many. Today was like every other waking up to the sound of his alarm bright and early at 07:00, Rising he swung his leg over to the edge of his bed groaning at the still ever-present ghost pains that he had on his left thigh. Reaching down Jack pulled on his Prosthetic leg, looking down at the sleek but athletic build of the leg it was one of those ones meant for runners Jack always appreciated this one for its support on his own leg. “No time like the present” Jack mumbled to himself as he strapped on his leg and headed across the room to change into his running gear for the morning. Finishing Quickly he made his way into the kitchen to quickly grab a drink of water before his morning run. Maybe it was because he loved his routine or just the thought of keeping something that was so normal to him before the incident that Jack kept doing this every morning, no matter the weather or mood he got up and started his day as such. Reaching the kitchen Jack looked inside the fridge for some bottled water, seeing just a few bottles left and a nearly empty fridge made him stop as he thought about how little money he had. Thinking that he had little to no job options in his area, he really hoped that he could find a job soon or else he may have to start looking for a smaller place.
Grabbing his phone Jack stuffed it into his pocket of his favourite yet raggedy hoody, taking one last swig of water he headed out the door making sure to lock it behind him as he wasn’t in the best apartment complex for the area, it would do him little to get his place robbed even with so little stuff left to his name. Making quick work to have a nice warm up Jack headed down the three flights of stairs before he made it to ground level. Leaving the complex Jack looked up at the rising sky the sun just peaking over the mountains in the distance but a nice cool morning which he always appreciated. Starting his run at a nice brisk pace he headed out down the long drag that was the so called downtown core of this small town, Seeing as few people being awake even at 07:30 he nodded to a few people he passed only a few waving back at him as he made his circuit around the town being his daily routine of a solid 10 mile run, normally he would hate doing this ever day but after the loss of his left leg well it made him feel like a draw to keep improving.
Several Miles down the road as jack was coming up to his halfway mark of the run his phone went off signalling that someone was calling him. “Better not be another telemarketer again” Jack signed as he raised the phone to his head as he answered the call. A Voice on the other side of the phone began speaking.
“Good morning is this, Jack Rickson? This Is Mike Auwn from the Sunny Storage Corporation we got your resume for a position for Night security at our building would you be available to talk for a bit?” Hearing that Jack Came to a halt before answering,
“Yes, this is Jack Rickson, sorry I was doing my morning run when you called but I can talk now” Smiling to himself but tamping it down Jack awaited a response from the man.
“Ahhh Good, good, good! Always great to keep up your health, we here at Sunny Storage Corporation actively encourage our security personnel to keep up with their own personal fitness as it is a requirement for the job! Sorry back to the matter at hand we are calling today to offer you a position as one of our recent hires just quit and we are looking to fill this position quickly. Would you be interested in the position? Mind you it will be 10-hour shifts from 21:00 to 07:00 five days a week with overtime qualifying at anything over 40 hours. The base pay that we have going for our security guards is a nice 22$ an hour and if you fit in well with our team and stay with us it will the pay will be increased up to 25$ an hour after only half a year not to mention there will be opportunities for promotion.”
The more the man spoke the more interested Jack had become but there had to be a catch, “Sir I would love the job but is there a catch? It honestly sounds like an excellent job, but I must ask” Hoping that he did not just shoot himself in the foot, Jack did not have to wait long for a response.
“Well, we would need you to start this evening as we honestly do not have anyone to fill in the gaps now that would be our big catch. Though if you do accept, we can up the pay tonight for double as you will have to come in early to get set up in gear as well as training and procedures. If all that sounds acceptable to you, I can send you the address and time to come in this evening to start.”
Honestly not having to wait long Jack responded, “Ill take the job Sir thank you, if you can send me the information, I will be there at the time you request.”
Hearing the other man sigh in relief he answers “Yes that is perfect! I will send you over an info packet later which will give you a brief overview of the workplace as well as duties that you will have during the night if there is nothing else Ill leave you back to your run.”
Later that evening Jack was pulling up to a huge complex it looked like the ones that he saw as being one of those storage facilities for amazon it just seemed to go on forever as he could see its sprawling complex for what looked like a mile away. Driving up to the gate which looked very high tech with its 10 feet tall Fences bordering the whole facility he came to a stop by one of those buzzers, pressing it he heard a sweet-sounding female voice from the other side “ID and purpose for being here?” she asked while waiting for a response Jack responded calmly.
“Ah yes sorry I was contacted by Mike Auwn for a position of night security.”
She responded just as fast “ID please.”
Already pulling out his Drivers license Jack waited before she responded again “Alright everything checks out on my end, When the gate opens, you will have to keep following the road till you come upon the security building and don’t worry you won’t miss it, it has a bunch of security trucks around it as well as a huge sign that says security”.
Hearing a buzz as the gate in front of him slides off to the side allowing his truck to pass as soon as his truck clears the gate it starts to shut behind him. Driving down the road as the woman said he saw the security building which was attached to the main complex by an enclosed catwalk but stood out easily enough from all the vehicles parked out front. Finding a nice parking spot near the building Jack headed on over to the door. As he opened the door and walked in, he was greeted by one of the biggest men he had ever met in his life this man was about the same height of himself being around 6’1 but the man was built like a mountain with a glorious beard to match. The slight scowl on his face seemed to change but in an instant. “I would assume you to be Jack Rickson, Janis informed me that you had just headed past the gates, well follow me we have a lot to go over while you are here being as it is only a couple of hours till your night shift in the warehouse.” Following along behind the man Jack looked at the man from behind he could see that the man carried two side arms one a taser and the other a 9mm Handgun, as well as strapped to his leg the man had one badass looking knife, kitted out in black tack gear the man looked as if he was ready for war of a certain kind.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
They turned a bend as they walked into the office listed on the door as Captain Reach, watching as the man walked around the desk he sat down only when the other man waved for him to sit. “Alright Rickson, as this is going to be your first night here, we have some ground rules, though looking at your file I feel that should not be an issue. Rule one no loosing any gear while on duty as this can happen, please do not make a habit out of it especially for the handgun. Second as the evening shift you will be here alone, but the building will be locked up tight with you in it, make sure non of the sensors go out, you will get a look at the control room which will show maps laid out of the floor plan. Your job will be to make sure nothing gets in or out of this place, Got it?” Jack did understand but nothing getting out seemed a little weird but likely just a figure of speech. Mentally shrugging jack responded, “Yes Captain.”
“Ah you saw that did you? Good I wont lie it was a slight test to see how observant you are it is a good trait to have” reaching beside his desk he pulled on his name tag and reattached it to his uniform as well as placing one on his desk. “Third, your shift is from 21:00- 07:00 so if you are caught sleeping on the job you are out. As this is a storage facility the company requires us to be on our A-game while being here, seeing as not many people enjoy the nightshift it is understandable but for you, I am sure you have done at least one night watch before in your career so no need to badger you about it too much. “Finally, if you are in need of help for what ever reason, may it be something you can’t manage yourself you are to call me but only if all other options are used.” Jack understood the man the last thing he wanted was for a new hire calling him early in the morning for something that could easily be solved.
Looking at the man he nodded, Jack waited for the man to continue luckily, he did not have to wait for long.
“Alright let’s get you kitted up and off to do a quick famil on the weapon in the range downstairs before we go to the control room so we can get you orientated with all the controls.”
Walking out of the office they made a couple more turns down the hallway where they came to the armories room. Walking in Jack noticed several lockers one of which had his name written on it, looking towards the captain he motioned for Jack to get dressed before walking out of the room and closing the door behind him. Turning to his task at hand Jack pulled off his clothing and donned his current gear which was remarkably like what you would see a swat team be clothed in. Finishing he attached his tool belt and secured the pistol and taser to his waist. Finally bending down, he strapped the knife to his leg before ensuring a good fit on the gear. Weirdly it felt big when he first put it on but as he continued attaching things to himself it snugged up nicely to fit his body. And honestly this was one of the best sets of gear he had ever seen and felt. Double checking to ensure all was well with himself and his prosthetic leg he headed out the door to see the captain nod his head in approval once before turning to head down the hallway.
Having gone just across the hall the Captain awaited for him to follow into the elevator so they could head down to basement two, once the doors opened they were greeted by a two lane shooting range, a small range but still surprising as why would a security company need to have a range at all? Shrugging to himself he figured it was just one of the many quirks that was this company. Stepping up to lane one Jack looked towards the Captain waiting for instructions, not having to wait for long the Captain spoke.
"You know this weapon right?" Waiting only long enough to see jack nod his head in the affirmative before continuing on "Field strip the weapon and once done I want to see you put it back together, Once you have that I'll hand you one mag for which you can fire down range I want to ensure you understand how to handle that thing you understand?"
This time wanting to give a firm response Jack replied "Yes sir" before throwing himself into his work easily field stripping the gun and once given the affirmative immediately threw the pistol back together with fluid ease. Once together the captain walked over and handed over one mag filled with 10 rounds, sliding the mag into the pistol and racking a round in the chamber he held up in a firing position slowly firing rounds down range into center mass. Expelling all rounds jack unloaded the mag and showed off that there was no rounds left in the chamber before placing the pistol back onto the counter.
Walking over to Jack the captain showed a screen that gave a report on the grouping showing a full center of mass view, "Congrats Jack you passed our little test, its one of the reason this company only hires ex-military makes training days easier but don't worry we will have more range days and get you all set up for some of the bigger guns we have here but that will have to be at a later date"
Turning Jack Followed the Captain back towards the elevator to head up stairs.
Once again navigating the corridors jack found himself in the control room and honestly it was not what he was expecting this place had huge computer screens listing several video feeds on each there was live LED maps that showed each entrance and exit of the building being listed as green for open and red for closed. Looking around the room he saw a man come over to greet the captain before turning himself towards jack.
“Hello, I am tech specialist Jamie, I keep this place running during the day shift so please be careful I will leave basic steps for you to take if there comes an issue with the software as though to reboot or debug if needed” the man finished in an Australian accent which did surprise Jack as he had not expected hearing that voice from the man though not uncommon it seemed as if this company spared no expense when hiring good people for their security so why not hire out internationally too.
Jack made sure to smile and shake the man’s hand before responding “Thank you I do appreciate that I may not be the best with computers, but I wont purposefully break anything.”
“Well, that’s good and we can always teach you so its not a big deal if you can’t do more then the basics after all that is my job to ensure that all is working, Though I am on call so if something bad does happen I can swoop in and adjust as needed. If more is needed, I will rely on your help as the man on the ground. Let us show you around after all Id you ask me something now that you do not understand then be out of your depth later this evening.” The man started walking around showing Jack all the different buttons what they did as well as distinct colour codes that were used on the radios.
It took almost an hour of asking questions as well as getting shown around before it came time for his shift. It was 10 minutes to the hour and the other men were getting ready to head out for the evening. Just before leaving Captain Reach turned around and looked Jack in the eyes “Stay safe, the last we need is an incident. I will see you in the morning and expect a report of anything that had happened in the evening something always does.”
With that Jack locked the door and headed on for his first patrol of the warehouse, after all that was his job hopefully this would be a good first shift.